Entrepreneurship Lessons via Bobby Flay, Scott’s Pizza Tours by Diane Stirling

(Editors’ Note: A group of students are enmeshed in the startup culture of New York City this week as they participate in #EntreTech NYC, an immersion course in entrepreneurship and technology hosted by the School of Information Studies. It involves a full week of visits to a variety of startups and/or established tech companies, with several stops each day. It’s a week some students have described as life-changing or essential to their future direction. 

One of the 2015 group is Christie Caroline Jasmin, an Information Mangagement and Technology major at the iSchool, who contributed this post. She’s vice president of It Girls,  treasurer and event coordinator of BLISTS, and public relations chair for NSBE, as well as a peer mentor for fullCIRCLE and a peer advisor for the iSchool. Here, she describes how the experience of sighting a celebrity chef on the streets of New York during an #EntreTech day swayed her view of entrepreneurship.)

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On Monday, in the midst of Scott’s Pizza Tour, I saw Bobby Flay walking casually down the street here in New York. At first, I did not believe that he would walk around without an entourage, but that’s New York City.

The irony of seeing a world-renowned food entrepreneur while experiencing a presentation of pizza from another food professional was an unexpected experience. It allowed me to use a lens that would not have occurred to me otherwise.

Both Bobby Flay and Scott Wiener (Scott’s Pizza Tours) have passion, which leads to their successes.

When pizza comes up in the conversation, Wiener’s eyes light up and the passion he has pours out. Bobby Flay does the same when southwest cuisine is the topic of choice.

But what really resonated with me was the juxtaposition of both men in the same food industry.

Flay started his own restaurant in 1991, with the help of a restaurateur. Wiener started this venture solely on his own in 2006, but both men had others express an interest in their talent and the ways they should pursue this avenue, since they naturally excel at it. (Wiener attended Syracuse University.)

While Flay is currently this “Goliath” in the food industry, Wiener is the “David,” which he loves, because it’s about quality for him.

That led to a belief for me that when entrepreneurs keep “quality over quantity” in the forefront of their services or products, that is how they flourish in their respective niches.

This mentality can be applied not only to the food industry or tech startups, but to all entrepreneurial ventures.

Have you had ideas about the way entrepreneurs have specifically shaped their businesses? What do you think about the way Bobby Flay and Scott’s Pizza Tours are branding theirs?

Let us know by leaving your comments here!